Put an End to Thumb Sucking

March 01, 2011, By William Browning 2 comments

When our kids were sucking their thumbs we had to make sure their hands were kept clean. Watching them crawl around the floor and then putting their thumbs in their mouths made my wife and I worried they were going to get sick. Imagine running your hands over a floor and then licking on them. Yeah, "eww" is right. Despite my wife's best attempts and gallons and gallons of hand sanitizer, getting icky germs in their mouth was inevitable as long as they were sucking their thumbs.Obviously, warding off germs is just one of the reasons for getting your kid to wean off of thumb sucking.

Here are a few tips to get your kids to stop sucking on their thumbs. If your kids are getting older and more active then it's probably time to move on from thumb sucking.

Break Thumb Sucking Habits

WebMD reports that kids usually break thumb sucking habits around age four. Pediatricians believe thumb sucking is a psychological need in children to feel comfort. Some babies even suck their thumbs in the womb and continue the habit well into infancy. Keep in mind that when you're trying to break your kids of this habit, it's one they've developed and felt comfort from their whole life. Literally.

One thing that worked for our kids was to transfer the thumb to some other object. We gave our kids pacifiers and sippy cups. For the most part, it did the trick, but not every kid is as easily distracted as our kids.

If your kid is a little more stubborn and holds onto their comfort with a vice grip, the good news is that time, in this instance, is moving in the right direction. As your children get older they're able to express their feelings better. Instead of caving into an introverted world where they seek comfort in their thumb, they can talk to mom and dad about what they're feeling. It may not keep them from ever sucking their thumb, but it can largely replace that direct comfort they sought from a nice long thumb sucking session.

WebMD has a lot of other suggestions on how to stop thumb sucking. The one that makes the most sense to me is to make your child cognizant of their thumb sucking. It can be as simple as telling them they're sucking their thumb every time they go to do it. The key is to point it out to them gently. It's not a reprimand, it's a reminder. Think of it like if you had a calorie counter on the front of your fridge and every time you reached in to grab a couple slices of leftover pizza for a snack, the counter updated. You'd probably think twice about grabbing that second slice, right? Just being aware of what you're doing helps keep unconscious behaviors from running rampant.